Parents, beware these warning signs:IF YOUR CHILD......is a bully...enjoys following school rules, no matter how silly...shows interest in becoming a hall monitor...lies to avoid getting in trouble...lies to get others in trouble unfairly

WATCH OUT!!! These are warning signs that your child may become a police officer. Abandon them immediately*!

I really don't think there is.I haven't seen any credible evidence that the proliferation of violent video games has actually resulted in more violence, or that violent video games cause violent tendencies themselves. Most of the arguments I've heard are pure unadulterated conjecture. Sure some of it makes use of psychological terminology, but it is conjecture nonetheless.

Not that I was convinced that there wasn't a link, either. I noticed that it simply specified crime rather than violent crime, which seemed like it might be an omission for the sake of argument enhancement. But in fact in the process of checking the veracity of the data in the graph posted above I found that, according to DOJ data, violent crime has trended severely downward from 1994 all the way until today (perhaps coincidentally, one of the first really violent video games, DOOM, was released just at the end of 1993). More pointedly, violent crime against youths age 12-17 has trended downward as well, and done so even more drastically than the general population.

Now I'm not discounting the possibility that a violent video game might, in individual cases, contribute to someone becoming more violent. I'm sure you could find anecdotes. But on the whole the effect must be incredibly tiny for violence to drop so much while video games proliferate so thoroughly. I just really don't think that there is anything substantial to this video game hypothesis, and certainly it isn't severe enough to warrant censorship of them or any more laws than we already have with the ESRB ratings.

You can tell that videogames result in real world violence because everyone under the age of 40 who commits a violent crime will readily admit to having played a violent video game at least once in their lives, and people over 40 commit less violent crimes on average than those below 40. So clearly it is the videogames that are to blame.

Violent video games are not the problem, They are just a symptom of our already violent nature, as is crime. One is an outlet that harms nobody, the other has victims. The problem has ever and always been that we have violent natures and violent people. That isn't changing any time soon.

The only link between violent media and crime is our own nature. Taking away violent media will do exactly nothing to curb our primal instincts. That can only be accomplished on an individual basis by individuals.

That said, parents are often woefully out of touch with what their kids are exposed to. CSB time:

I once worked for a local retailer that sold electronics and video games. This was around the time when GTA San Andreas came out. A mother came in with her son in tow, he was maybe 8 - 10 years old. She walks up to he counter with the kid, and he plonks down GTA SA. She looks at me and asks me if he can purchase the game (I gathered she noticed the rating on it, but didn't really comprehend the meaning). I tell her he can't but she can for him because of the rating. She asks me why that is. I then inform her of the games content. The pimping, the gang violence, car theft, etc. etc. She looks at me in horror and then at her kid, and I could see the kid deflate the moment he knew the jig was up. She asks me if that's really true about the game, and I confirm it. She asks her kid if he knew the game was about that stuff, and he evades by saying, "But mom, I really want it."

Suffice to say she tells him he's not getting it if that's what the game is about, and they leave with the kid pouting and throwing a fit.

I just watched and wondered what part of Grand Theft Auto, and Mature (as it was rated at that time, not sure if that changed) was ambiguous to her, and how much time and attention she actually spent with her kid.

I also wondered if she actually read the case sleeve and comprehended any of it. I got the impression she didn't other than the big M on the front.

I generally think that bad parenting exacerbates violent behavior far more than any violent media.

untaken_name:Deoan: I would bet that a larger percentage of criminals went to public school than played online video games. Maybe we should ban public schools. On a related note, they probably paid sales tax. That should be banned, too. Just in case.

They also enjoy the dangerous drink dihydrogen monoxide.

Ban it. Ban it everywhere. Especially in sizes over 16oz in New York City.

ExperianScaresCthulhu:You know how folks who steal software and software registration codes online would never in a million years think of themselves as criminal?

Criminal copyright infringement requires profiting on a commercial scale... You know, like those guys selling pirated DVDs on the street corner... A kid downloading a pirated copy of a game, app, movie, or song is not committing a crime; they're committing a civil tort... So, they shouldn't think of themselves as criminals, because they're not...

/And, before you go accusing me of supporting piracy, I don't...//I write software for a living...

Video games don't make you violent.You want a game that will make you violent? Try playing this one.Make sure to sit right next to your girl friend. She will wish you dead. Or vise versa.Either way, there will be no lovin.

Pointy Tail of Satan:It's true though. I play Fallout 3 all the time, and I can't tell you how many real life feral ghouls and super mutants I've killed now. It's so bad, my picture is on the cover of the new DSM-V!

Try living in DC. I am forever pointing out spots to my wife where I killed different critters! People look at you funny when youre standing bynthe Washington monument talking about how you killed a few super mutants.